The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity, often seen as the creator god, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos.
There are many names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power of this being within Aboriginal mythology, which includes the worldview commonly referred to as The Dreaming. The serpent is viewed as a giver of life through its association with water, but can be a destructive force if angry. The Rainbow Serpent is one of the most common and well-known Aboriginal stories and is of great importance to Aboriginal society.
Not all of the myths in this family describe the ancestral being as a snake. Of those that do, not all of them draw a connection with a rainbow. However, a link with water or rain is typical. The rainbow is associated with a waterhole in a wide range of regions across Australia,Cf. : "..the rainbow-serpent, whether regarded as a rainbow or as a serpent, or species of serpent that lives in water-holes,.."; "rainbow-serpent has some degree of control over rain". in various states and in much of the state of Western Australia. When the rainbow is seen in the sky, it is said to be the Rainbow Serpent (Dhakkan) moving from one water-hole (or panhole) to another (as in Kabi Kabi lore). Thus a reliable watering hole (or rather, "rock hole") is regarded as being the permanent dwelling of a rainbow serpent, an understandable piece of folklore where so many water-holes dry up in the drought.
The Rainbow Serpent Festival is an annual festival of music, arts and culture in Victoria.
Names
The Rainbow Serpent is known by different names by the many different Aboriginal cultures.
Yurlunggur is the name of the "rainbow serpent" according to the Murngin (a Yolngu group) in north-eastern Arnhem Land, et passim. (also discussed in , repr. ). also styled Yurlungur, Yulunggur, Jurlungur, Julunggur or Julunggul., (also discussed in , repr. ). The Yurlunggur was considered "the great father".
The serpent is called Wititj (var. Witij) and depicted in bark paintings or print by artists of the Galpu clan in the Dhuwa Moiety of the Dhangu people (or other clans of the in the Dhuwa moiety of the Yolngu peoples).
Kanmare is the name of the great water serpent (with a mane-like head of hair) in Queensland among the Pitapita people of the Boulia District; it is apparently a giant carpet snake, and recorded under the name Cunmurra further south. The same snake is called Tulloun among the Mitakoodi (Maithakari). Two mythical Kooremah (or Kuremah) of the Mycoolon (Maikulan) tribe of Queensland, are cosmic carpet snakes 40 miles long, residing in watery realm of the dead, or on the pathway leading to it; this is probably equivalent to the rainbow snake also.
Other names include:
Numereji by the Kakadu (Gaagudju) Ngalyod by the Kunwinjku Yingarna, the original (female) Rainbow Serpent, whose son is Ngalyod, though these names may be used interchangeably Bolung in the Northern Territory, by the Dangbon/Dalabon/Buan and Rembarrnga Langal (secret name of Bolung) muitj (var. Moitt, Muit ) in Central Arnhemland by the Rembarrnga, etc. Kulunada, by Anmatyerr people of the Central Desert region of the Northern Territory Kunmanggur by the Murinbata Wollunqua by the Warumungu Wonungur (N and NW Territories)/ Wonungar Worombi Wanampi by the Aṉangu
Andrénjinyi by the natives of Pennefather River, North Queensland, Bulletin 5, p. 10, cited in Taipan by the Wikmunkan Yero (Daintree and Bloomfield Rivers, Northern Queensland) Goorialla by the Lardil people Dhakkan (or Takkan) by the Kabi Kabi (Gubbi Gubbi)
Galeru (or Galoru, Kaleru) by the Wandjina (Kimberley Region) Ungud (or Ungur) by the Wandjina (Kimberley Region) Wanamangura by the Thalanyji (Talainji) Wagyl by the Noongar Kajura by the Ingarda Wonambi (Ooldea Region, SA; also Lake Darlot, WA) Kurrea said to inhabit Boobera Lagoon, NSW Myndie by the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria near Melbourne
Development of concept Although the concept of the Rainbow Serpent has existed for a very long time in Aboriginal Australian cultures, it was introduced to the wider world through the work of anthropologists. Kenneth Maddock suggests that the name Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake appears to have been coined in English by Alfred Radcliffe-Brown, an anthropologist who noticed the same concept going under different names among various Aboriginal Australian cultures, and called it "the rainbow-serpent myth of Australia"., title of paper: "The Rainbow-Serpent Myth of Australia", p. 19; and : "..Radcliffe-Brown, with whom it all began. [¶] According to Radcliffe-Brown's first paper on the subject [of rainbow-serpent]". Radcliffe-Brown's position was that the "rainbow-serpent is not confined in Australia to any particular ethnological province, but is very widespread and may very possibly be practically universal"., requoted by . Charles P. Mountford, rather than the one myth, preferred to speak of "rainbow serpent myths" of Australia,, title of paper: "The Rainbow Serpents of Australia" though it is recognized they are not all independent, but share common motifs.cf. : "..motifs that recur in the rainbow serpent myths",
It has been suggested that the Serpent's position as the most prominent creator God in the Australian tradition has largely been the creation of non-Aboriginal anthropologists.
Characteristics The rainbow serpent is in the first instance, the rainbow itself. It is said to inhabit particular waterholes, springs etc., because such bodies of water can exhibit spectral colors by diffracting light, according to one explanation. Likewise, the rainbow quartz crystal and certain seashells are also associated with the Rainbow Serpent, and are used in rituals involving the rainbow serpent. The underlying reasons are likewise explainable, since quartz acts as a prism to diffract light into different colours, while the mother of pearl exhibits an iridescence of colours.
The Dreaming (or Dreamtime or Tjukurrpa or Jukurrpa) stories tell of the great spirits and totems during creation, in animal and human form that moulded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains, and gorges as it pushed upward. The Rainbow Serpent is understood to be of immense proportions and inhabits deep permanent waterholes and is in control of life's most precious resource, water. In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is considered to be the ultimate creator of everything in the universe.
In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is male; in others, female; in yet others, the gender is ambiguous or the Rainbow Serpent is hermaphroditic or bigender, thus an androgynous entity. Some commentators have suggested that the Rainbow Serpent is a phallic symbol,Berndt, Ronald (1951), Kunapipi: a study of an Australian aboriginal religious cult pp. 12–13, 31, cited in which fits its connection with fertility myths and rituals. When the Serpent is characterized as female or bigender, it is sometimes depicted with breasts, as in the case of the Kunmanggur serpent. Other times, the Serpent has no particular gender.
The serpent is sometimes ascribed with a having crest or a mane or on its head, or being bearded as well.
While it is single-headed, the Yurlunggur of Arnhem land may possess a double-body.
In some stories, the Serpent is associated with a large fruit bat, sometimes called a "flying fox" in Australian English, engaged in a rivalry over a woman. Some scholars have identified other creatures, such as a bird, crocodile, dingo, or lizard, as taking the role of the Serpent in stories. In all cases, these animals are also associated with water. The Rainbow Serpent has also been identified with, or considered to be related to, the bunyip, a fearful, water-hole dwelling creature in Australian mythology.
Unlike many other deities, the Rainbow Serpent does not have a human form and remains in the form of animal. While each culture has a different interpretation on gender and which animal the deity is, it is nonetheless, always an animal.
The oftentimes inconsistent Rainbow Serpent (in contrast to the unyielding sun) replenishes the stores of water, forming gullies and deep channels as the Rainbow Serpent slithers across the landscape.http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/climate_culture/rainbow_serp.shtml Indigenous Weather Knowledge – The Rainbow Serpent In this belief system, without the Serpent, no rain would fall and the Earth would dry up. In other cultures, the serpent stops rainfall: the Numereji serpent's iwaiyu (its soul or shadow) cast upon the sky becomes the rainbow, and the serpent ascends to stop the rain, the Andrénjinyi is said to halt the rain caused by enemies.
The Rainbow Serpent is sometimes associated with human blood, especially circulation and the menstrual cycle, and is considered a healer, because of this the Rainbow Serpent is also representative of fertility.
Thunder and lightning are said to stem from when the Rainbow Serpent is angry, causing powerful storms and cyclones that will drown those who have upset her. Other punishments carried out by the Rainbow Serpent included being turned into either a human or to stone.
In the documentary film Crookhat and the Kulanada, directed by Anmatyerr man David Tranter, the three subjects relate stories of the serpent (Kulanada) guarding a waterhole fed by a spring in the Central Desert.
Serpent stories Stories about the Rainbow Serpent have been passed down from generation to generation. The serpent story may vary however, according to environmental differences. Peoples of the monsoonal areas depict an epic interaction of the sun, Serpent, and wind in their Dreamtime stories, whereas those of the Central Desert experience less drastic seasonal shifts and their stories reflect this. It is known both as a benevolent protector of its people (the groups from the country around) and as a malevolent punisher of law breakers. The Rainbow Serpent's mythology is closely linked to land, water, life, social relationships, and fertility. The Rainbow Serpent often takes part in transitions from adolescence to adulthood for young men and swallows them to vomit them up later.
The most common motif in Rainbow Serpent stories is the Serpent as creator, with the Serpent often bringing life to an empty space.
One prominent Rainbow Serpent myth is the story of the Wawalag or Wagilag sisters, from the Yolngu people of Arnhem Land. According to legend, the sisters are travelling together when the older sister gives birth, and her blood flows to a waterhole where the Rainbow Serpent lives. In another version of the tale, the sisters are travelling with their mother, Kunapipi, all of whom know ancient secrets, and the Serpent is merely angered by their presence in its area. The Rainbow Serpent then traces the scent back to the sisters sleeping in their hut, a metaphor for the uterus. The Rainbow Serpent enters, a symbolic representation of a snake entering a hole, and eats them and their children. However, the Rainbow Serpent regurgitates them after being bitten by an ant, and this act creates Arnhem Land. Now, the Serpent speaks in their voices and teaches sacred rituals to the people living there.
Wollunqua is the Warumungu people's version of the Rainbow Serpent, telling of an enormous snake which emerged from a watering hole called Kadjinara in the Murchison Ranges, Northern Territory.